I have been fired from Mountain Xpress. On April 17, I received a letter in my mailbox notifying me that I was terminated from my job as senior news reporter.

I had been suspended since April 4, following efforts to push for a union at Xpress and bring to light major issues with ethics and working conditions. This includes the Communications Workers of America filing a National Labor Relations Board charge on April 2 concerning ongoing retaliation.

Thanks to everyone who has supported the union drive. It is far from over.

On a personal note, I would like to thank the many people in Asheville who have supported my work, helping to inform the public for nearly seven years as a reporter at Xpress.

I have no regrets, and hope to continue serving and informing the community in whatever way I can.

The Asheville nonprofit Food Connection is partnering with Wicked Weed Brewing and its Cultura restaurant, the YMCA of Western North Carolina, and Red Wing Enterprises for the event aimed at helping service industry workers.

One of the biggest immediate impacts has been the release of about 200 people from the Buncombe County jail, a long-sought after goal by some local officials who want to convert the county jail from a holding pen for low-level, nonviolent, poor suspects to a lockup reserved for serious offenders.

33 Comments

Mr. Forbes making his signature issue that the Mountain Xpress is non-union strikes me as extremely SELFISH in light of the fact that we have servers making $2/hr, Duke is leeching thallium into the French Broad, students at WWC can’t vote, affordable housing is a big loophole, homeless vets (and homeless non-vets) are marginalized, NOAA is not allowed (by law) to discuss climate change, Dr. Greg Brannon thinks some god controls the weather, in Tennessee it is illegal to invest in mass transit, in OK you pay a fine to install solar panels, America leads the world in incarceration, racism abounds, gun violence on the rise, police brutality, corporations control the media, etc etc et-fricking-cetera

Do something positive with your life, David, stop whining about life being unfair and begging for financial assistance.

Your views of Mr. Forbes’ actions may have merit, but some of your assertions are questionable and undercut your point:

” . . . .NOAA is not allowed (by law) to discuss climate change, . .

1. “How are climate and weather changing?” Climate change is apparent now across our nation; and natural climate patterns, like El Niño, can have a major impact on weather. NOAA works with partners across sectors to provide useful and timely climate information. Without NOAA’s long-term climate monitoring, research, and modeling capabilities we couldn’t quantify where and how climate conditions have changed, nor could we predict where and how they’re likely to change. We provide critical early warning systems and forecasts from days to decades and on local to global scales.

Tennessee lawmakers have finalized a deal approving a bus rapid transit project, which the Senate originally attempted to block.2

The deal will allow Nashville’s AMP bus rapid transit project to proceed, but with greater oversight from the state’s General Assembly, according to The Tennessean. The deal, brokered Thursday by a conference committee of House and Senate lawmakers, allows BRT projects to use separate lanes, but such projects will require Assembly approval even if they don’t use state funding.

The Amp, proposed by Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, is a $174 million BRT system that would cover a 7.1-mile route and serve rapidly growing neighborhoods across the city. There’s a more detailed summary of the project over at The Tennessean. Thursday’s deal was needed because the Senate overwhelmingly voted in favor of a bill effectively banning construction of bus rapid transit in two counties, one of which includes Nashville1, while the House approved a measure that merely required the state’s transportation commissioner to approve such projects.2

Orton- rallying the community against a local news outlet while asking for handouts is “trying to better their situation”? I see it as selfish, vindictive and immature

Media Watcher – thanks for the update on AFP’s attempt to block mass transit in Nashville. It’s exactly why we need more reporters and less panhandlers in the world. how much do I owe you for the correx?

Where was he asking for handouts? You’re equating unionizing to handouts? Tim Peck, is that you?

Besides, the fact that you’re bitching about someone trying to improve their working conditions in light of how many people left or got fired from that place stands as a moronic point of view when you bring up the woes of the world as comparison. Yes, that is and was still very interesting logic, hoss.

David Forbes has been asking for handouts (sorry, donations) on twitter, Facebook and type pad. FYI-People get fired all the time for publicly defaming their employers. Try it sometime and see! FYI#2 I am not Tim Peck, my name is Lance Wille. What’s your real name, Orton? Perhaps it’s David Forbes? source (gotta scroll down for relevance): bit.ly/1k4sXEB

-I will let you have the last word on the subject, I am done bitching, going out in the real world to try and save our planet. over and out.

Yes, also a similar rally for primarily personal reasons. WPVM lost that fight, I guess you are happy in bringing down a community resource. Now you get to post on Ashevegas! Gawd, y’all so cliquish! Really a discussion for another forum, like lanceisanass.com

If you mean that the core group of volunteers who had just managed the most successful fund drive in ‘PVM history, were subsequently banned from the station by Wally Bowen, leading to a mass exodus of volunteers, listeners and donors… yes, in that sense ‘WPVM lost’. But Wally won.

We didn’t ‘bring down’ WPVM. That’s a particularly hurtful way of describing it, by someone who wasn’t involved & knows absolutely nothing about what really transpired.

Perhaps he can use his experience to start another indie paper. A paper like the one that MX used to be with serious investigative reporting, coverage of City Council and County Commission rather then the snoozefest MX has become with its 400 weekly food articles and puffy cover stories.

Tim..Any real journalist..of which you’re not..will tell you Forbes was a damn good reporterwriter. For you to say he practiced “yellow journalism” shows either your lack of knowledge of the field OR your just another political hack who gets on these websites to push your agenda.

OK—seems like his co-workers would have his back here. Ya know, since he’s been fighting for their rights over the past few months. Hopefully, they will find a way to come together in support of him and to show JF that enough is enough. He can’t fire everyone, can he? It would be pretty tough to print a paper without employees…